Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-09-02
I'VE ARE WITNESSES,
Discourse by Rev. DR.. Talmage at the
Hamptons.

mony-Thc Christians Weapon in ths
Conflict Is Faith, Not Logic.
The HAMPToNs, Aug. 21.-"The Facts
Proved" is the subject of discourse by the
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. d., to-day
His text is from Acts XIV, 3: 1--WE are wit
nesses." Following is his sermon in full:
In the days of George Stephenson, the
perfector of the locomotive engine, the
scientists proved conciusively that a rail-
way train could never be driven by steam
power successfully and without peril; but
the rushing express trains from Liverpool
to Edinburg, and from Edinburg to Lon
don, have made all the nations witnesses
of the splendid achievement. Machinists
and navigators proved conclusively that a
steamer could never cross the Atlantic
proved the impossibility of such an UNDER
taking than the work was done, and the
passengers on the Cunard and the Inman
and the National and the White Star lines
are witnesses. There went up guffaw OF
wise laughter at Professor Morse's propo-
sition to make the lightning of heaven his
errand boy, and it was proved conclusively
that the thing could never be done; but now
all the news Of the wide world, by Assoc
ciated Press, put in your hands every
morning and night, has made all nations
witnesses.
So in the time of Christ it was proved
conclusively that it was impossible for Him
to rise from the dead. 1t was shown log
ically that when He was dead He was dead.
and the heart and the liver and the lungs
having ceased to perform their Offices, the
limbs would be rigid beyond all power of
friction or arousal. They showed it to be
an absolute absurdity that the dead Christ
should ever get up alive; but no sooner had
they proved this than the dead Christ
arose, and the disciples behind Him, heard
His voice and talked with Him, and they
took the witness stand to prove that to be
true which the wiseacres of the day had
proved to be impossible; the record Of the
experiment and of the testimony is in the
text: Him hath God raised from the
dead, whereof We are Witnesses"
Now, let me play the skeptic for mo-
ment. "There is no Cod" says the skep-
tic, "for I have never seen Him with my
physical eyesight. Your Bible is pack
of contradictions. There never was q
dead, and the water was never turned into
wine. Your religion is an imposition on
the credulity of the ages" There is an
aged man moving in that pew as though he
would like to respond. Here are hundreds
of people with faces little flushed at these
announcements, and oil through this house
there is a suppressed feeling which would
like to speak out in behalf of the truth of
our glorious Christianity, as in the days of
the text, crying out: ave are witnesses!"
The fact is, that if this world is ever
brought to God, it will not be through
argument, but through testimony. You
might cover the whole earth with apologies
for Christianity and learned treatises in
defense of religion-you would not convert
soul. Lectures on the harmony between
discipline, but have never saved o soul,
and never will save soul. Put man of
the world and mar of the church against
each other and the man of the world will
in all probability get the triumph. There
are thousand things in our religion that
seem illogical to the world, and always will
seem illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith, Ao
logic; faith, not metaphysics; faith, moi
profundity; faith, not scholastic explora-
ton. But then, in order to have faith we
must have testimony, and if 500 men, OF
1000 men, or 100000 men, or 5000, O0O
men get up and tell me that they have felt
the religion of Jesus Christ joy, COM
fort, help, an inspiration, l am bound as
o fair minded man to accept their testimony.
propositions, the truth of which I think
this audience will attest with overwhelming
unanimity.
The first proposition is: We are witnesses
that the religion of Christ is able to oonver,
o soul.
The Gospel may have had hard time tc
conquer us, we may have fought it back
but we were vanquished. You say con.
version is only an imaginary thing. We
know better. ave are Witnesses" There
never was so great change in our hear
and life On any other subject as on this
People laughed at the missionaries In
Madagascar because they preached ter
years without Que convert; but there are
People laughed at DR.. Judson, the Baptist
missionary, because he kept on preaching
in Burmah five years without single con.
vert; but there are 10000 Baptists in
Burmah to-day. People laughed at Dr.
Morrison, in China, for preaching there
seven years without a single conversion
but there are $4,000 Christians in Chine
to-day. People laughed at the mission.
aries for preaching at Tahiti for ffteer
years without single conversion, and al
the missionaries for preaching in Bengal
seventeen years without a single CONVEX
sion; yet in all those lands there are multi.
tudes of Christians to-day.
But why go so far to find evidences Of
the Gospels power to save soul? ave
are witnesses. )" We were so proud that nc
man could have humbled us; we were sc
hard that no earthly power could have
melted us; angels of God were all around
about us, they could not overcome us; but
one day, perhaps ct q Methodist anxious
seat, or at Presbyterian catechetical
lecture, or at burial, or on horseback, q
power seized us, and made us get down,
and made us tremble, and made us kneel,
and made us cry for mercy, and we tried
to wrench ourselves away from the grasp,
but We could not. It flung US flat, and
when we arose we were as much changed
as Gourgis, the heather, who went into O
prayer meeting with dagger and a gun to
disturb the meeting and destroy it, but the
next day was found crying: ooh, my great
sins! Oh! nay great Savior!" and fol-
eleven years preached the gospel of Christ
to his fellow mountaineers, the last words
on his dying lips being "Free grace!" Oh,
it was free grace.
There is man who was for ten years q
hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had
set down its roots around the palate and
the tongue, and on down until they were
interlinked with the vitals of the body,
mind, and soul; but he has not taken any
stimulants for two years. What did that?
Not temperance societies. Not prohibit
ton laws. Not moral suasion. CONVEX